House Democrats Decry 'Junk Plans'

Democrats blasted attempts by the Trump administration to "sabotage" the Affordable Care Act during a House Energy & Commerce Health subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. "We're inviting people back into a world with mirrors and trap doors, which was exactly the place we wanted to get away from when we passed the ACA," said Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.), who called on his colleagues to "push back against these junk plans." House Democrats introduced four bills to roll back administration efforts to loosen or circumvent the ACA's insurance requirements. In the very unlikely event that they pass the Republican-controlled Senate and gain the president's signature, they would: require all short-term health plans to include a warning explicitly stating which benefits are included and which aren't, restore marketing and outreach funding for ACA exchanges, rescind a regulation that extended the allowable duration of short-term plans (including renewals) to just under 3 years, and cancel the administration's new guidance around 1332 waivers, which relaxed certain "guard rails."